news-record.com

All those car rides to weekend tournaments, those equipment and league and travel fees, that time spent making sure that uniform is washed, folded and laid out on the bed?

"It's worth it in the end," Mary Swim will say.

Swim's son Alex has been playing baseball his whole life. He's Northwest Guilford's starting catcher, a pretty good one at that. Mary says she knew back in T-ball that "he could go all the way if it was something he aspired to."

Mary played high school softball in her day, but multiple sclerosis has limited her mobility for the last seven or eight years. When Northwest reworked its athletics fields a few years ago, some leftover concrete was made into a sidewalk so that Mary could get her wheelchair to the diamond easier, "a real Godsend" that has let her remain a calming presence in the bleachers.

"Mothers of pitchers, they get nervous or have to walk away," she said. "Surprisingly enough, I'm

very calm."

After a lifetime of hard work by Alex and his family, he started getting serious interest from Division I programs last year to "basically see his dreams coming through," Mary said. He settled on Elon, where he'll head this fall. That's plenty close enough to let him keep peeking into the stands for Mom's face.

"It's always nice when she can make it," Alex said. "Knowing she's there has a calming effect."

Contact Tom Keller at 373-7034 or tom.keller@news-record.com